Minorities in the WW-what makes sense (was: The wizarding world and empire)

[Judy <penumbra10@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51229

 "manawydan" wrote:

<snip> in WW, there does not seem to be any concept of a "3rd
> > World", of the legacy of Empire, or of any sort of racial
> > dimension.
Ebony disagreed:
 I beg to differ strongly with you here.> 
> If the wizarding world did not mirror the Muggle one in any way... 
> ...then why are Dean Thomas and Angelina Johnson named thusly?
>If, indeed, as you state the wizarding population of sub-Saharan 
>Africa had been left intact in this particular magical world, I 
doubt 
>*very seriously* that those two characters would have names like 
>those. Sure, explain it away all you wish, but the reason why so 
>many of the African-descended have European first, last, and middle 
>names is because of the legacy of slavery. <snip>

Me:
Although I found Ebony's recent post on the SHIP issue in GoF to be 
well-written, intelligent and well-supported, I cannot say the same 
about her ideas in this arena.  This statement is capricious and 
emotional and is lacking the substantiation of actual Black British 
history and, indeed, all but the most superficial of our shared 
American history.   IMO such a comment is insulting to Jo Rowling's 
perceptions of her own British culture and more than a bit self-
righteous.  My last name, Ellis, is English.  I am Black.  No one on 
my father's side was ever a slave and my mother's people immigrated 
from Scotland and Ireland.  There are two other African American 
teachers on staff with me who have non-slaves on one side of their 
family.  Although the majority of British and American Blacks owe 
their European names to the legacy of slavery, not all do.  There is 
a very rich untold history which is not politically correct at the 
moment because it conflicts with popular rhetoric.

Ebony wrote:  
It is certain that many Africans, American Natives, Asians, etc. 
have 
European names today. Yet it is Dean and Angelina's *last* names... 
their family names... that flag to me that there was indeed 
something 
like the Middle Passage in the wizarding world. There had to have 
been. <snip>

Me:
Oh, Really?
I can't imagine any wizard allowing himself (or herself) to be 
subjected to the unimaginable indignities and suffering of "middle 
passage" and slavery without a knock down, drag-out, wands blazin' 
free-for-all.   I would have another very big question for Ebony.  
There were very specific economic reasons slaves were bought and 
sold and, of course, they had to be broken and controlled.   Why in 
the world would wizards import equally powerful wizard slaves, who 
could conceivably AK them into oblivion, when they had house elves 
who were already happy to work for free???
As far as I can see, the wizard slaves idea makes no sense 
whatsoever.  It is abundantly clear to me that JKR's Black 
characters got their very British surnames some other way.  

Things make better sense in the perspective of actual history:

 There are historical records dating back to 210 A.D. which mention 
the presence of Blacks at a Roman military settlement at Carlisle.  
Several historical sources also mention Hadrian's Wall being guarded 
by an African division recruited for that purpose between 253-58 
A.D.  From 1555, when John Lok brought five West Africans to England 
to teach them English in hopes of establishing a trade with the Gold 
Coast, there was a continuous Black presence in England.  They came 
to England in any number of ways and for any number of reasons.   By 
1596 there was such a substantial Black population in England  that 
even Queen Elizabeth I took notice and wanted to have some of them 
deported.  This idea went nowhere.
By the middle of the 18th Century, there is historical evidence of a 
strong interdependence among England's poor and working class Blacks 
and Whites which included a great deal of intermarriage.  The big 
objection during this period seemed to be cross-class, not cross-
race mixing.  
The accuracy of these dates and events may be verified from snippets 
and links at this great interactive website:
http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/B/blackhistorymap/

If there was such a large voluntary African muggle presence in 
England so early on, before England's imperialist push and the big 
influx of slaves, it is safe to speculate that England might have 
also drawn wizards.  It is even safe to speculate that there were 
Black wizards in England during Merlin's day.  The case for an Asian 
wizarding presence in England, however,  cannot be justified, at 
least in light of history, until after 1780, when the East India 
Company transported the first immigrants to London.

Regarding names:
Native British surnames became fixed in the period between 1250 and 
1450 and fall into one of four categories:  patronymic names (those 
which are based on the first names of the male ancestor),  names 
which reflect the family's point of origin, Dan Radcliffe's (red 
cliff) is one such name, occupational names, such as Potter, and 
names which are nicknames describing the ancestor's face or other 
features (Brown—"brown-haired/skinned)  It is interesting to note 
that all three Black characters in JKR's novels, Dean Thomas, 
Angelina Johnson and Lee Jordan  are given native patronymic British 
names.  As Blacks in Britain, obviously had to come from somewhere 
else, point-of origin names would appear fake, occupational names 
could possibly be interpreted to mean the families were once 
servants of some sort, and nick names, would, by their nature more 
than likely indicate racial features which would, of course,  be 
interpreted by readers as being racist slurs.  I see JKR's choice of 
these characters' surnames as being indicative of them belonging to 
long-established families that had become integrated into the fabric 
of the British wizarding world.  In light of this, it would be easy 
to see how two (or all) of them could also be pure bloods.   I, for 
one, found this very positive and a marvelous way for JKR to 
emphasize her point about tolerance and acceptance.   
[I would really appreciate a Brit's take on this idea since most of 
my knowledge of English culture comes from books.]

The concept of race and racial superiority was born in England after 
an act of Parliament freed all English slaves in 1806. (It similarly 
appeared in the US after Emancipation.) Racial divides were strongly 
drawn in both countries
  The Dursleys, naturally, subscribe to this 
notion and we see, very subtly, their influence on Harry.  It is 
only through Harry's observations that we are even aware that Dean, 
Angelina and Lee Jordan are Black.  We see no such designations or 
labeling being handed out by anyone else in the established 
wizarding world--even the elitist Malfoys.  Then, after Harry has 
become comfortable with his place in this new world, we no longer 
see any such observations from him as this kind of thing is really 
not part of his nature.  We only know there are other ethnicities 
because of the names JKR selects for them.  Two of these groups are 
represented by the Patil twins, and Cho Chang, and reflect the other 
two largest ethnic demographics in England.  It is perfectly natural 
to assume that within these various other immigrant groups (there 
were 37 at last count in London) there would also be wizards who 
voluntarily came to England for reasons of their own.

I'm with Christian and with Richard and everyone else from the list 
who can see no evidence of racial prejudice within the wizarding 
world.  This, of course, is JKR's objective. By making the wizarding 
world color blind so that everyone who reads her novels feels 
welcome there, she can use their muggle/pureblood conflicts to show 
us the absurdities of our own prejudices.  I, for one, think this 
idea was brilliantly conceived.

Judy, who sincerely hopes she didn't sound too much like Professor 
Binns.